3 Days, 1300 Miles: Model 3 Performance Road Trip Breakdown

[@skoluh]

Dude you should make new youtube channel where you talk about insane stories and series of events. You have the perfect voice for it, you would go viral INSTANTLY. I hope you get the views you deserve! It will soon come to you keep grinding. Wishing you the BEST of luck

[@nomansland120]

I've been following your channel since you had just 300 followers, and you've grown into one of my favorites on KZbin. I love relaxing by watching your episodes, and this road trip series has been exceptional. I ordered a hoodie for myself and my wife for Christmas. I'm happy to support your work! Wishing the Fench Family a very Merry Christmas!

[@MisterFench]

My friend. You're amazing 🙏 Happy holidays to you too!🎄

[@SinghinUKOfficial]

I drove 3121 miles in September from London to France ,Italy , Austria , Germany , Luxembourg, Belgium, and back to the UK in my Model Y standard range.. this was my 3rd trip, and i am telling you without any hastle except Austria ( less supercharger).... more you drive more you like the driving.. and i drove on Autobahn 203 kmh :) electric cars are great on long drive.. keep on adding videos.. maybe one day will catch you on supercharger ... next trip for me is London to Norway.. good luck

[@SinghinUKOfficial]

And it costed me 290 pounds in Total as I had to charge from my hotel some expensive rates due to Less supercharger charger in Austria

[@MisterFench]

What a trip! Must have been a blast! Yeah Austria is a bit low on Tesla Chargers, but if you have a proper EU charging card, then going to a different charger is really totally fine. They are also often placed in more convenient places than a lot of Tesla chargers are. As long as you're not bothered by the charging stops, then electric is perfectly fine for longer journeys. The 5 hours did however shock me a bit afterwards. I didn't feel like it was an issue while I was underway, but seeing the number afterwards was a bit. hmm, did I really charge for that long 🙂

[@SinghinUKOfficial]

Only issue i have with my car is ,it's a standard model I need a long range version so I can charge less and drive more... I just wanted to check what drone you have and how you are filming from inside while drive, like using action camera or phone ..

[@MisterFench]

@@SinghinUKOfficial I have an old DJI Mavic Mini. The first ever 249g drone I believe. An old boy :) I use a GoPro Hero 8 on a flexible mount for my shots inside

[@SinghinUKOfficial]

@MisterFench thanks I have the same mavic mini first one..... Good luck, mate...

[@andypearson9486]

Really enjoyed the mini series! I am picking my first model 3 up this week and can't wait!

[@MisterFench]

Happy to hear Andy! Cheers! And enjoy that Model3 ;)🙏

[@williamliifv]

Haven’t been able to see the whole clip yet but atleast half of it. Thanks for making the best Tesla and EV films there is on KZbin. Then you just keep improving as well. A lot of details with the charging that I’m very grateful for. Looking forward to see the rest. Keep up this amazing work Fench, KZbin need more of you 😊

[@MisterFench]

🙏🙏 Thank you Wiliam 🙂🙂

[@mibox5996]

As a person which want this exact model and colour of tesla as his dream car I love watching your videos. I'm amazed you just started, high quality shots, soothing voice and even voice recording quality. More trips or another videos around your tesla! Congrats!

[@MisterFench]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@SaEfToR]

Die Treppenscene hat mich gekillt xD

[@MisterFench]

😅🙏

[@ewadge]

On our recent trip in the UK we rented a model 3. Parts of the trip were super easy as we stopped to stretch our legs and have a bite to eat during charging. In other parts and particularly in the area at which we were staying there was no easy access to charging. At one hotel and ai needed to make a dedicated trip to go to a charger to which I needed to go twice as it was occupied the first time. The whole trip requires careful planning to decide before hand at which chargers to stop. So yeah, road tripping an EV is not for the uninitiated. I love EVs so it was worth it for me but ai wouldn’t recommend it for my wife for instance who cannot be bothered. Also, I didn’t find hotels with charging in the areas we were visiting.

[@MisterFench]

Sounds like we're very similar. I don't take too much issue with the charging, also when it can sometimes be a mess - the pleasure of driving an EV does (for me) outweigh the trouble you sometimes have. My girlfriend however would have gone mad on this trip and all these stops. To be fair she would probably also have thought the trip was too long, even with an ICE car 🙂 Finding hotels with charging is a mess. Hopefully that will change in the near future, as like I showed in the video, it's a huge obstacle in terms of time wasted. Thanks for viewing! 🙏

[@claudioferreira7859]

I'm loving your videos, it's not about the content alone wich by the way you´re doing a great job but i do really enjoy just how calmly you talk and make a simple video of you driving around so interesting.

[@JuricaDrezga]

Came for Tesla content ended up learning about German history, good stuff sir, greetings from Croatia and new M3 ultra red owner.

[@MisterFench]

Cheers my friend! 😉🙂

[@RCTanksTrucks247]

Another fantastic video brother. Keep these coming :)

[@bmwsincekid]

The First Real LIFE TEST!!! I go with my car 160-180km/h 480hp 3.0 petrol Bmw Consumes 8-10 liters , This shows again that EV is not ready for everyone As you said i want to get there as quick as possible rather charging and kicking time eating or such shit… thx for the video

[@MisterFench]

I'm a big fan of EV's, but if your preference is to just drive through at high speeds, then I'm afraid they're not yet anywhere close to being able to complete with ICE cars. That said; for close/medium range driving, they are unbeatable. I'm very mindful of my things, and for a petrol car I would always make sure to wait until oil temperatures are at safe levels before even going above 2500 rpms. May just be overly cautious, but why risk damaging the engine for no reason. With electric, I can quickly save 5-10 minutes of driving by being able to immediately step on the throttle as soon as I hit the autobahn (which is very nearby). So for my use, EV is an amazing timesaver and the instant torque just never gets old. For any real long range driving, I have to be honest and say that I would prefer to be in a V6 diesel. I don't think most people go on that long drives on a regular basis, so for me I'm fine with the compromise of charging those rare occasions where I do go for longer trips. It's up for each to decide though 🙏

[@MisterFench]

The 540i is nice btw ;)

[@puffet3998]

loved this series! definitely one of my new favourite channels on youtube! the car is also cool as hell 😅

[@MisterFench]

Much appreciated! 🙂🙏

[@Gnaarki]

If you want to drive Roads like this in Europe I can recommend the Route des Grandes Alps, its from Lake Geneva to Menton over the highest paved passes in the alps. From Menton you can also visit the Gorge du Verdon.

[@MisterFench]

Fantastic! Will definitely make a note of those routes 🙂🙏

[@MarcesAurelius]

it’s amazing the amount pain, suffering and death to just transport the materials to build places like this 😳

[@MisterFench]

Absolutely! How things were built in the past was a whole different type of struggle! Today a builder probably take a day off work in case his power tools didn't work🙂

[@victorseal9047]

As I’ve aged toilet stops have become obligatory , therefore three five minutes petrol breaks interest me not. 😅 Excellent video..

[@MisterFench]

Another thing to keep in mind in a few years ;-) Cheers Victor 😉🙏

[@yannickjolie7336]

Great video’s. Would love to see the following two columns added to your overview if possible: “Kms driven since last charging stop” & “average speed since last stop”. Would give a good indication of how much real world range to expect on certain stretches (autobahn vs. regular highways vs. mountain passes). Keep it up!

[@MisterFench]

Cheers Yannick, I'll keep that in mind for future travels. Average speed doesn't indicate too much I'm afraid, as you could be driving 20 km in a 80km/h zone on the highway, which would lower the average speed considerably, even if you would have been flooring it with 200+kph on the unrestricted part. Then there are other factors like rain, temperature, wind etc. just really a lot of variables that would skew the results to where you shouldn't read much into it anyways. I've done a few range tests, at various speeds on my channel, fully showcasing the conditions - and on the same day. That should give a better indication of the consumption. This trip was extremely mixed driving. A lot with 170-200kph, wasting a lot of efficiency🙂

[@yannickjolie7336]

@ agree with all those points certainly! The dedicated range tests definitely give the best indication of what efficiency to expect under certain conditions and at given speeds. Let’s stick to kms between stop then. For those that understand how conditions affect the consumption etc. (which I think many of your audience do, certainly if they’ve watched your other videos, super informative) I think it still provides some datapoints as to what to expect when road tripping. Under varying conditions. Look forward to your next video!

[@MisterFench]

@@yannickjolie7336 Glad to hear it 🙂 By the way, I suppose you could check the distances between my stops manually on Google Maps if you wanted to. I would have been driving pretty much directly from charger to charger, as they would have been more or less on-route 👍

[@yannickjolie7336]

@@MisterFenchfair point! For anyone interested. Note that these might not be 100% accurate depending on the route taken. And also note that conditions like driving speed, wind, elevation, etc. influence efficiency on any given stretch. Lovosice supercharger - Shell recharge vestec: 82 km (34% used) Shell recharge vestec - Kammeny Ujezd Supercharger: 153 km (43% used) Kammeny Ujezd Supercharger - Salzburg Supercharger: 215 km (58% used) Salzburg Supercharger - Zell am See Salzburg AG: 85 km (33% used) Zell am See Salzburg - Reichershofen Supercharger: 233 km (60% used) Reichershofen Supercharger - Wertheim-Almosenberg Supercharger: 244 km (85% used) Wertheim-Almosenberg Supercharger - Eschborn Supercharger: 101 km (63% used) Eschborn Supercharger - Kircheim Supercharger: 126 km (29% used)

[@yannickjolie7336]

@MisterFench , looks like you were flying from Wertheim to Eschborn 😉🏎️💨

[@kWhperkm]

Well done, Fench, another excellent video. 👍 Congratulations on the merch, it looks fantastic. I agree with your points about charging, even though it’s a drawback we accepted when buying a BEV. Regarding fuel prices, I recently went on a trip of around 2,500 km (1,550 miles) with an ICE (to Frankfurt and back). I refuelled in Croatia at €1.35 per litre (that was the price of diesel at the time) and in Germany at Jet Tankstelle for €1.52 per litre. Perhaps it was more expensive where you refuelled. The Mercedes C220d consumes around 6 litres per 100 km if driven at 130-140 km/h, with occasional higher speeds on the autobahn. Accommodation with included charging hasn’t always been ideal for me. With Airbnb it happened that they only had a Schuko socket and was far from the vehicle. Or the owner said that charging wasn’t allowed (probably out of fear after reading about BEVs catching fire). Hotels have also started charging for EV charging recently. Some asked €30 for 6 hours on an slow AC charger, regardless of how many kWh were used. Since I arrived at the hotel with around 70% charge, it wouldn’t be worth it for me.

[@MisterFench]

Thank you so much! 🙏 You are right, when people buy an EV they must thoroughly consider the charging drawback - in my opinion, it's also the only drawback there is, and all the pros heavily outway that single con. Fuel price in my overview was based on Petrol - 95 Super. The 220d is amazing by the way. We used to have one of those 🙂 Also did a ride from Denmark to Italy in that, long hours no problem at all, pure comfort, even for "just" being a C class. The armrest position on the drivers door, is also the best in business for that one 🙂 Yes, the AirBnB Shchuko option is far from ideal as well, and definitely not anything noteworthy, as even if there would be an outlet, I'd want to limit power to the lowest possible, and overnight you'd then only be able to add something like 12% perhaps. As you said, the owner may also not even allow it. It's a shame that hotels haven't caught up to the importance of offering EV charging. It's actually a massive selling point for EV drivers - of which there are A LOT now a days.

[@kWhperkm]

@@MisterFench From what I see in my surroundings, an increasing number of hotels are offering EV charging. While there is still significant room for improvement, it seems they are heading in the right direction. However, I’ve noticed a change: previously charging was often free for hotel guests, but now it’s increasingly being charged. Since hotels are not legally allowed to sell electricity without a concession, they charge for time instead, often at a high price. Their assumption is, "If someone drives a car worth €50,000, they’ll pay €30 for charging rather than searching for a cheaper option." And they are often right, as it’s far more convenient to leave the car charging at the hotel parking while you’re at the beach or skiing, rather than going elsewhere and waiting for it to charge. However, this sometimes results in costs as high as €1.20 per kWh, making the overall expense less favourable.

[@MisterFench]

@@kWhperkm I can imagine they at first didn't account for how much money a full charge would actually cost them. If included with the price, I am sure most people would plan their journeys to arrive with very low SOC and then be able to charge their entire battery for free. If a hotel rate is around €100, then that's quickly upwards €30 electricity cost, depending on the battery/SOC. Which is obviously an absurd cost for them to carry. If they would just use be sensible and charge the actual cost, it would be such a big incentive for EV drivers to go there, picking their Hotels above others. But oh well. I don't think I'd book a hotel charging €1.3 per kWh damn. If I'd arrive empty, that would be a €100 charging cost 😂 Crazy

[@kWhperkm]

@@MisterFench No, the hotel will charge you €30 (or whatever price they set) regardless of how many kWh you charge. I’m not sure how much a kWh costs them-probably around €0.07 to €0.14-but that’s irrelevant. On your bill, it won’t show how much you’ve charged; it will simply say "parking - €30." If you happen to arrive with a low SoC, it’s worth charging for €30. However, if you arrive with, say, 70% and just want to top up so you leave the hotel with 100%, it’s not worth it because you’ll only charge 20 or 25 kWh but still pay €30. It’s far more convenient to charge the car overnight at the hotel and start journey back home with 100%, than to go to a slow AC charger somewhere and wait for it to charge.

[@Lanmiami]

13:00 thanks for sharing your thoughts about comfort of the car

[@MisterFench]

You're very welcome! It's a topic that people often bring up, so figured I would dedicate a spot for it here 😉

[@petergutten5239]

Come see the beautiful mountains and castles in Slovakia. You won't regret it :)

[@MisterFench]

Just had a look on google! Amazing nature you have there! Had no idea! Definitely on the list now!

[@zeitgeist888]

I really enjoyed the road trip videos. What a shame that the Ring was foggy. I would love to see a video showing how charging works at Tesla charger vs other chargers including time and steps to get from parked up to leaving whether you have the app or card already for the non Tesla chargers or not. ALso have you considered trying an AirBnB and using 220v household charger for overnight stays? May be worth considering.

[@MisterFench]

Huge shame with the ring! Will try and go there in summer again though, plan it a bit ahead where I know the weather will be fine :-) AirBNB would be an option, but I have to say I prefer hotels because it's just so much easier with a nice breakfast buffet the next morning. Then there's the trouble of figuring out if there's a plug available close enough to where the car is parked. If not, then there's an issue right there. Or I have to keep a 20m extension cord in the car :i even then, I'd only charge with 1kW max, as to not overload any wires/outlets for safety, and if I leave the next morning at around 10, then I'd only have been able to charge up 14kWh, not barely enough to consider it an option I'm afraid. Hotels just really need to get with the times and arrange some more wallbox chargers 🙂 Tesla charging you just plug in and then it starts charging. At other chargers you need to hold your card against the reader on the stall and then you just plug in and charge. I believe it's shown in the prague video I uploaded a couple of weeks ago.

[@JensKubieziel]

300 minutes of stops sounds quite a lot. However when I was about to buy an electric car I looked at my personal behavior on long trips. I encountered that I make a stop at every 300--400 km. If it is a really fast stop, it would take me around 30 minutes. Usually I spend an hour. Assuming I'd drive 1967 km in one trip, it would mean I stop between 5--7 times and it would take between 150 to 420 minutes. So when looking at the facts those 300 minutes appear quite normal to my driving behavior. 🙂

[@MisterFench]

If you're happy with taking 30-60 minute breaks every 300-400 km, then electric would be a great choice and not be an inconvenience in any type of way, in fact, it would probably be the exact opposite, as you would then also feel like you're not wasting precious time taking a longer break (since you'll be adding charge effectively). Did you end up buying an electric car though? Or not ready to pull the trigger just yet?

[@JensKubieziel]

@@MisterFench I did quite some research and in the end I decided that an electric car would be a good fit. So I own one and have not regretted it yet. 🙂

[@MisterFench]

@@JensKubieziel Very happy to hear that :-) Neither have I. So much fun with the instant torque always available. Safe too, especially when merging onto busy highways.

[@danielalecu2800]

Great job!I have the same car,same color 😁

[@andrejwalter8968]

visit also slovenia one day

[@HimanshuSachdevaHS]

It's crazy to see a petrol car would have cost less for fuel compared to the charging cost you paid

[@MisterFench]

Hm, well, I guess the comparison I made there isn't quite fair, as I based it on a consumption of 6.5l/100km. If we had to do a direct comparison with a 500hp petrol car, the consumption would probably have been close to double based on how I was driving 👍

[@JensKubieziel]

If one looks at cars (ICE) with similar data (price, horse power, etc.), one lands at VW Arteon, Porsche Macan and similar cars. They have a consumption between 8 and 10 l/100km. So the cost would raise to 265--332 €. Those values are WLTP averages. So driving in a sporty fashion would further drive up the consumption. So I guess it is safe to assume that driving with a similar ICE is way more expensive.

[@monishmaha]

When are you going to try the Tesla FSD features? I see lot of FSD testing videos in USA not in EU. It would be cool if you can be pioneer of FSD videos in EU.

[@MisterFench]

I'm afraid that the cost for upgrading to FSD is a bit beyond what I'm willing to spend. At one point I heard some talks about a subscription-based model, where you can have it on a monthly basis, if that ever becomes available, I'll definitely be one of the first to try it out. However, around €8000 EUR for an upgraded autopilot, which I already now have issues with, isn't on my to-do list right now 🙂

[@monishmaha]

@@MisterFench Fair enough!

[@SwiftHDX]

Honestly, anywhere outside of local use or short/medium trips with free destination charging, I don't see the benefits of going electric just yet. My diesel, in the same scenario as yours with the 2000km trip, would've needed around 1.5 tanks worth of fuel (VW Passat), which in Germany/Austria goes for down to €1.52/l if you look around a bit. So that would add up to 100l or roughly €152 worth of fuel, with literally only one 5 minute fuel stop being necessary, not having to spend time and deviate from route to charge. I think even compared to your destination charging scenario, the extra fuel costs are worth it to still save around 2h including deviation time from route. This is coming from a previous owner of a 2021 facelift M3P, which I absolutely loved.

[@MisterFench]

There's absolutely no arguing that a Petrol/Diesel is the more efficient car on longer journeys. For the few long trips I do, driving electric is bearable. There are so many other upsides that outweigh the charging times. Just the pure performance of the thing, I mean, so much fun. One thing people neglect to consider when comparing ICE vs Electric, is short/medium trips as you mention. By that I mean anything between 5 to 200km. In these cases, electric just wins every time. No concern of running a cold motor on short trips and always having the car charged up and ready at home is super convenient. Pre-heating/cooling priceless too, even if many ICE also offer that as an option - pre-heating at least. But yeah. We'll see where the world is heading in a few years, and if electric is still being pushed as much as it is now, or if it will turn out to be a short lived fad. 🙂

[@SwiftHDX]

@MisterFench Yep, can only agree!

[@AD-oz4zm]

@@MisterFench do you have any statistics on how high is battery consumption when driving your Tesla at 190+ kmh for longer duration, let's say 30 minutes straight? I prefer driving long distances at night when there is no traffic and speed limits on autobahns are mainly off. With diesel that is absolutely not a problem, uninterrupted 30 min driving at 210 kmh consumes maybe a quarter of my car's tank. I wonder how much this will cost me if driving an EV

[@MisterFench]

@@AD-oz4zm I'm afraid I don't have any statistics for uninterrupted high speed driving. There has often been road work, traffic, etc. at most times I've been driving at higher speeds. I would however assume that your max range at 180-200 would be around 200km. That would be with careful throttlening on accelerations though. Between two SuperChargers on this trip, I used 63% getting 101km. That was with high speed upwards 200 - and going heavy on the foot every time when accelerating. If you're able to just keep the speed constantly at 180, the consumption is going to be a bit less, but don't expect to get much more range than 200km total 😬 It's very hard for me to argue for an EV against a diesel, if the goal is long distance travelling at high speeds 🙂

[@AD-oz4zm]

@@MisterFench thanks! that's the most structured and accurately measured statistics I've got so far from anyone about driving an EV at high speed :)

[@HotHatchTV]

Strange you compare this to an ice with a consumption of 6.5L. I see someone commenting here, oh look, ice is cheaper. No way that an ice with similar HP and similar fast driving on the autobahn would have a consumption of 6.5L. My RS3 would be between 8-10L, wild guess, as I only use it for spirited driving, which is of course much higher.

[@MisterFench]

Yeah, you are 100% right. I honestly forgot to cover that section in my commentary. The 6.5l was just a numbed loosely based on our VW Golf 8 ETSi. With a direct comparison against a 500hp ICE, the number would likely have been around 10-13l/100km.

[@Jojo-yz4we]

I mean you charged for one hour once, so you could've been much more effective. In the last calculation with potential charging by the hotels you coulve been charging for about 45 minutes in total so if you really want to get to the destination fast, there are many ways of optimizing it

[@MisterFench]

It's not always that easy though. Sometimes you just want to drive faster, or you want to get to a charging stop that has some kind of food option nearby, which will force you to not follow an optimal charging plan. At other times you may just want to have more than 70% charge, as it saves you having to make a stop (again as above), some place where you don't really want to stay for 15-20 minutes. Or, as it once was in my case, 4 charging stalls didn't work and I lost about 5-10 minutes. Or I just physically wanted to take a little longer break as I was driving for the entire day.

[@Jojo-yz4we]

@MisterFench Yeah its definitely not always the most optimal but you can make it quite effective if you really want to

[@MisterFench]

@@Jojo-yz4we Very true. It does require a bit more planning. But I guess once you (I) get more familiar with EV travelling it will become second nature 🙂

[@philippm.4684]

If you search for a hotel next frankfurt again, I can recommend nHow Frankfurt, Brüsseler Strasse, you can charge your car there in the hotelparking, not for free but comfortable. Thanks for your Videos, I'm watching it because I want to buy an M3P or a fully electric MB CLA in 2025.

[@MisterFench]

Thanks for the tip Philip! As long as there's charging, I'm perfectly fine with paying for it. The convenience of charging at the hotel is priceless - this road trip also shows how big of a difference it makes! 🙏

[@philippm.4684]

@MisterFench just looked to swisscharge-app, now 0.45€/kWh for charging @nHow Frankfurt. Good price! Yes, if roadtripp, you should charge overnight, much better for saving time. I saw this specially on my tripp last year through Sweden/Norway, there was not always possible to charge overnight, so you need more time during the day while you want to drive and explore 🤔

[@Tanngnjostr_]

Thanks for this remarkable relaxing content. You want me to go to the high alpine road also but maybe it did miss where you charged your m3p during your drive (especially on the high alpine road). I am driving a m3 rwd with the small 60kWh battery and want to see if mine can also do it 😅

[@MisterFench]

Cheers! :-) You can definitely do the Alpine Road! There are plenty of chargers in Zell Am See, which is the city just before the Alpine Road begins. I drove heavy footed up and down, as far as I could get and then back again, used and that used around 32 kWh - with 60, you should be completely fine, just charge it up to at least 60% before you go ;-)

[@Tanngnjostr_]

@MisterFench great man. Thanks!!! I am really looking forward doing it once it opens again next year. You inspired me... Did you also make some beautiful drone shots?

[@MisterFench]

@@Tanngnjostr_ Happy to hear that! Definitely worth the adventure! Another guy suggested a different route called the 'Route des Grandes Alpes' - may also be worth checking out depending where you're driving from! :-) I made some drone shots in my previous video called 'Driving the alps' 😉

[@Tanngnjostr_]

@@MisterFench I will start near munich, so high alpine road is the much closer option. But the other one sounds also quite good. Looking forward to a video from that route 😉

[@krijar70]

Nice video. Been there myself with a M3P. Lovely. I just want to reflect on your summary and cost calculations. In your sheet you estimate a petrol consumption of 6,5 l/100 km. What car is that and how would you drive it? A Renault Clio at about 100 km/h? 😄 As you mentioned your self you got a bit frisky on the autobahn. One could always find a car with a lower mileage to prove what ever point you want. But let’s compare 🍎 to 🍎 shall we? So for the sake of the argument let’s use a BMW M3 as a comparison. That car is on par with your car and that BMW would use (at least) 10,0l/100 km (98 octane or higher). I think that would make a much more representative comparison. But that may just be me😄 Anyways, great video series 👍🏼

[@MisterFench]

You are 100% right. I honestly forgot to cover that section in my commentary. The 6.5l was just a numbed loosely based on our VW Golf 8 ETSi. With a direct comparison against a 500hp ICE, the number would likely have been around 10-13l/100km. Should have been covered in commentary, just forgot 🙂

[@bzar-c3o]

I got a stone chip in the glass after one month of my new model 3 :(

[@MisterFench]

Just got a stone chip on my fender too 🙂

[@badbush2414]

Some fools still buy Tesla?